Not So "White Christmas"

On this episode of Christmas Merry and Bright, Raymond Arroyo, an award-winning broadcaster, New York Times best-selling author and acclaimed vocalist, unveils the hidden backstory of "White Christmas" by Jewish Russian artist, Irving Berlin and why it has such a palpable feel of melancholy. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
That is from my new Christmas album, Christmas Mary and Bright.
I'm Raymond Arroyo. Among the contemporary canon of Christmas music,
few songs hold the place of Irving Berlin's White Christmas.
Berlin's own daughter doesn't really know where he wrote the
most popular song of the holiday season. He most likely
wrote it when separated from his family. In nineteen thirty seven,

(00:23):
he was working on a movie, Alexander's Ragtime Band. There's
an intro to the song which gives you a hint
to the location where it was created. That intro goes,
the sun is shining, the grass is green, the ivy
and palm trees sway. There's never been such a day
in Beverly Hills, LA. But it's December the twenty fourth.

(00:44):
I'm longing to be up north. Remember, for Berlin, who
was born in Russia and Jewish, Christmas really wasn't that
big a deal. But he may have been missing his family,
which I'll get to in a moment. Bing Crosby made
the song famous on a broadcast in nineteen forty one,
eighteen days after the Pearl Harbor attack, and then in

(01:06):
nineteen forty two it was included in the movie Holiday
inn and the famous Crosby recording was released. Interestingly, Berlin
thought another song from that movie, Be Careful It's My
Heart would be the big hit. But White Christmas was
played on Armed Forces radio. It touched the hearts of
GI's and families separated from loved ones, And there's a

(01:28):
melancholic quality to that song, which is understandable if you
know the backstory. Indeed, in an interview, Bing Crosby said
he was reluctant to perform it for troops overseas, even
though it was often requested. He said quote, I hesitated
about doing it because invariably it caused such a nostalgic
yearning among those men that made him feel sad. He

(01:50):
said in an interview, Heaven knows, I didn't come that
far to make them sad, and for that reason, several
times I tried to cut it out of the show,
but those guys, they just hollered for it. Why did
White Christmas resonate with service people missing family in the
nineteen forties and what explains that sad undertow of the song? Well,

(02:11):
Irving Berlin didn't write his most popular song from a
place of happiness and cheer. What most people don't know.
What I didn't know is that Irving Berlin usually spent
Christmas Day with his wife visiting the grave of their
three week old son, who died on December twenty fifth,
nineteen twenty eight. Now you know why White Christmas has

(02:35):
that vein of melancholy. Berlin was writing from his personal loss.
It's that honesty of feeling. I think that haunts the song,
and perhaps that's part of the reason why White Christmas
and its wish that your days be merry and bright
makes it the most popular song of Christmas for generations.

(02:55):
It's a hard earned Christmas wish and a true one.
I'm Raymond Royo. Check out my new album and the tour,
Christmas Mary and Bright. I'm at Raymondarroyo Christmas dot com.
When we return the story of how Carol's came to
be and we tribute some of the great voices of
the season. When Christmas, Mary and Bright play Backstories continues